This isn’t a rant. It’s not even a complaint per se…Just a couple of observations and unanswerable (or maybe even rhetorical) questions about these newfangled magnets people are putting on their cars (and dreaded SUVs).
Almost overnight and without warning, the majority of drivers in the NYC metro area now have these ribbon-shaped refrigerator magnets stuck on the tail ass of their passenger vehicles. I have no idea if we were the first or last to get them (if I had to guess, I’d say they were orginally a west coast phenomenon). I’m not complaining mind you, I’m just making an observation.
Unless I wasn’t paying close enough attention in the early autumn bumper-to-bumper traffic - it appears to me I woke up a few days ago and almost everyone and their mother now has one of these bumper stickers for the 21st century.
Will I join the masses and get my very own magnet? No. For a whole host of reasons.[ul][li]First of all, I think they look kinda silly. With the current trend, by week’s end, I may be the only person without one.[]Second of all, There are too many design choices. With the flag design, the American Eagle, The Buy American, the pink breast cancer awareness ribbon or the yellow ‘support our troops’ design, I’d have too hard a time choosing just one.[]Thirdly, unless everyone else got theirs in the mail, I still don’t see them available in many retail outlets. In fact, the only place I’ve come across them is at gas stations and conveniences stores. Truth be told, I’m far too xenophobic to even consider purchasing patriotic sundries from them un-American invader types.[]You know, I don’t even know where these things are made. India? China? Some Vietnamese sweat shop? Are these the types of imported manufactured goods the presidential candidates have been referring to throughout the campaign?[]Lastly, these things are way too easy to steal. Shit, I lose about 20-30 of those chrome tire valve caps to petty theft every year. The last thing in the world I wanna do is give people something even more popular take off my car.[/ul][/li]I’m mad at myself for not coming up with the idea of vehicle ribbon magnets first. I mean it’s not all that original a concept anyway. People have had bumper stickers for as long as I remember and contractors have been affixing their business advertisements to their SUVs and vans with magnets for years now. Had I been a little more forward thinking, I’d be a multi-millionaire right now.
Here’s a little secret if you live outside the USA: If these magnets aren’t available in your neck of the woods yet, I strongly advise you do get in on the ground floor and come up with a few designs your fellow countrymen would like to put on their vehicles. Even if they’re only 1/10 as popular as they are here, you’re guaranteed to make a killing. In fact, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if some of our Dopers to the North start seeing ‘Maple Leaf’, ‘America Sucks’ and ‘Je Me Souviens’ magnets on Canadian highways before the time November rolls around.
One of the biggest ribbon-magnet companies is here in North Carolina. .I’m sort of temporarily working there, so I can tell you pretty much anything you want to know about yellow-ribbon magnets. (Don’t tell my boss, but I think they’re pretty silly, too.)
Boy, am I ever losing my patience with crap like this. How in the world does slapping one of these ribbons onto a gas-guzzling behemoth support the troops, when (arguably, I know, I know, but this is IMHO) oil is the reason they’re there in the first place?
But at least now I know that there are some very busy minimum-wage lineworkers in North Carolina whose paychecks are safe. I had assumed these things came from China like everything else.
The post-9/11 Flag Club has become the Magnetic Ribbon Club. If this war ever ends, maybe we can all go back to the Nike swoosh and Calvin pissing. America loves its symbols!
The first time I saw these was this past July when I gave briefings to National Guardsmen out in western MN. That didn’t bother me…it only makes sense for Guardsmen and their families to have these on their vehicles, y’know? Now they’re all over the freakin’ place. I just can’t believe THAT many people have a friend or family member over there, y’know?
Those are magnets? No wonder everyone’s got one nowadays - you can change your statement as often as you change your mind (because, you know, it’s pretty controversial to “Support Our Troops”).
You know, I hadn’t realized that I never saw them for sale, I only saw them on the back ends of the cars in front of me. If they’re sold in C-stores, that would be why - I always pay at the pump.
Apparently, the American Legion also sells them. Someone at work has been buying them at the Legion and selling them to co-workers (without markup). I’d been wondering where the damn things were coming from as well.
The first one that I saw was the yellow “Support Our Troops” ribbon. It was late June, and we’d just come home from New Jersey and we were waiting for our ride home from the MSP airport. Apparently, Yellow Ribbon Car’s people had not arrived yet, because this car just kept circling and circling and circling, with this yellow thing plastered on the passenger-side door. I couldn’t read what it said at the time…had to wait until I saw another one a few days later. Now they’re everywhere (and generally found on the trunk/back side of the car, rather than the door like that first one.)
I started seeing them here in North Central MA a few months ago, maybe mid-summer. A few here, a few there, at first. Then more and more and I couldn’t figure out where they were coming from. Then one day I was at my favorite gas station, conveniently located near my office and my home, complete with a mini-mart and Dunkin’Donuts open til midnight, and there they were at the cash register. I hadn’t even realized they were magnets and I thought they were free. The next thing I knew they were at the convenience store in the center of town. And they were priced at 4.99. For a magnet. And now they’re everywhere. Every other car I see has them. Here there are only two types that I’ve seen so far. You can Support Our Troops or you can God Bless Our Troops. You can do either one in yellow or red, white and blue flag motif. And I had the same thought as the OP. Why the hell didn’t I think of that.
I would love to know where the profits are going for this. Call me cynical, but I have a sneaking suspicion it’s not to supporting our troops or even to God to bless them.
Ugh, that’s my pet peeve of the moment. I’ve even seen them sideways when they don’t need to be - I think people put them sideways so you can read the lettering on the ribbon (so the writing is ‘straight’). I can’t frigging stand it. The loop needs to be at the top, moron!
And what’s worse is now all the cars I see have 3 or 4; a yellow one, a red-white-and-blue one, a pink one, and one that’s the yellow and red-white-and-blue variation. It’s like the car window flag craze that thankfully seems to have died out. I used to see people around here with 3 or 4 flags on their cars. I hated that trend.
At first I just saw the yellow ribbons that seemed to appear out of nowhere. I thought they had to do something with Lance Armstrong, with the yellow bands people wore in support of fighting cancer because I saw these during the Tour de France. There are so many freaking ribbon colors that I franky get confused as to which one is cancer and which one is fighting troops, and all the others.
Now everybody I see has about four of them, of every ribbon color. I agree that it looks tacky.
Only place I saw them for sale was the Dollar Store, and they had two other variations I haven’t seen mentioned here - black MIA ribboms, and one that was camoflauge colored to support the troops. The MIA one looked ok, but the camo one was really bad…
Like another poster, I think they’d be very easy to steal and wonder how often that happens…
